What's your experience with temporary walls?
December 11, 2009 9:20 AM Subscribe
Help me live with my noisy roommate in a 1BR + Den. What's your experience with temporary walls?
My roommate and I have been living together for nearly a year now. The best apartment (location, price, amenities) was a 1 BR + den (no door). This mostly works, although my roommate has been staying out late more and more frequently, and she has to pass by the den in order to get to her room. This wakes me up, I get no sleep, cranky me. I've tried earplugs which are okay but not great. I'd like to be able to go to sleep without regard to noise in our common space downstairs. Right now I have curtains up, which don't do much to block the sound.
The solution that we came up with was putting up a temporary wall. Do you have any experience with this? How much does it cost? How temporary is it? Ideally, I'd like to go to my landlord and say, "Can I please put up a wall? When we move out, it'll look like it never existed." Is this possible? Are there any other solutions you can think of? The key issue is noise pollution from our downstairs common area and from entry and exit of the house.
Currently, the den has a four foot half wall for some partition of the space.
My roommate and I have been living together for nearly a year now. The best apartment (location, price, amenities) was a 1 BR + den (no door). This mostly works, although my roommate has been staying out late more and more frequently, and she has to pass by the den in order to get to her room. This wakes me up, I get no sleep, cranky me. I've tried earplugs which are okay but not great. I'd like to be able to go to sleep without regard to noise in our common space downstairs. Right now I have curtains up, which don't do much to block the sound.
The solution that we came up with was putting up a temporary wall. Do you have any experience with this? How much does it cost? How temporary is it? Ideally, I'd like to go to my landlord and say, "Can I please put up a wall? When we move out, it'll look like it never existed." Is this possible? Are there any other solutions you can think of? The key issue is noise pollution from our downstairs common area and from entry and exit of the house.
Currently, the den has a four foot half wall for some partition of the space.
I lived in an identical situation for a couple of years in college and my roommate's dad built a wall to close the room off from the downstairs. It did help a bit with the sound, but not as much as a real wall would have. I'm a light sleeper and was awakened fairly frequently if there was something going on downstairs.
We were able to easily remove the wall when we left. It did take him most of the day to build, though (door and all), and unless you know someone who is handy it might get pretty pricey to find someone to do that.
posted by something something at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2009
We were able to easily remove the wall when we left. It did take him most of the day to build, though (door and all), and unless you know someone who is handy it might get pretty pricey to find someone to do that.
posted by something something at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2009
Temporary walls are pretty common in Manhattan. In my apartment there a new wall was put in what seemed like minutes and it looked like what had been the dining space was always a bedroom. It is a quick, common and not terribly expensive procedure (from memory).
The wall and doorframe looked fine. The wall itself wasn't as soundproof as, say a proper brick or concrete wall, but no worse than the kind of partition, non-loadbearing walls used in all sorts of modern properties.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2009
The wall and doorframe looked fine. The wall itself wasn't as soundproof as, say a proper brick or concrete wall, but no worse than the kind of partition, non-loadbearing walls used in all sorts of modern properties.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2009
Response by poster: Madamina, I already suggested that; she refuses to have no door and live on the street side of the apartment. That certainly would be the easiest solution, but no go.
posted by emkelley at 9:31 AM on December 11, 2009
posted by emkelley at 9:31 AM on December 11, 2009
I would suggest, if your landlord vetos the temporary wall, that you buy enough of the super tall Billy bookcases and use them to create a temporary wall, and when filled with books or folded up t-shirts or whatever, the insulation actually does a decent job of blocking sound.
posted by banannafish at 9:37 AM on December 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by banannafish at 9:37 AM on December 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
We built a temporary wall once and didn't feel we needed to ask the landlord's permission, because it didn't involve anything more than a very few nail holes. We built a frame of 2 x 4s which was held in place mainly by its tight fit, plus a few nails. Then we sheathed it in beadboard and hung a prehung door. It was indistinguishable from a new wall and when we left, the landlord liked it so much that he kept it.
If it doesn't alter the unit any more than normal wear and tear would, why do you need the landlord's permission?
posted by HotToddy at 10:03 AM on December 11, 2009
If it doesn't alter the unit any more than normal wear and tear would, why do you need the landlord's permission?
posted by HotToddy at 10:03 AM on December 11, 2009
I suggest getting a white noise generator of some sort. Well, what you really want is pink noise. It's supremely good at masking noise like this. Ambience for the iPhone is what I use, but there are lots of options.
As far as temporary walls go, you have to seal it completely to get a good reduction in sound, which means a door. You might be able to do it without drilling into the walls pretty if you got clever with construction. Make it a big Z and use some shims to wedge it very solidly in place. 2x4's are a couple bucks apiece and drywall is cheapish. It'd run about $50-$100 per 8'x4' section for materials if you use 2 layers of drywall, plus whatever for a door.
That buys an awfully nice pair of speakers and white noise generator.
posted by paanta at 10:13 AM on December 11, 2009
As far as temporary walls go, you have to seal it completely to get a good reduction in sound, which means a door. You might be able to do it without drilling into the walls pretty if you got clever with construction. Make it a big Z and use some shims to wedge it very solidly in place. 2x4's are a couple bucks apiece and drywall is cheapish. It'd run about $50-$100 per 8'x4' section for materials if you use 2 layers of drywall, plus whatever for a door.
That buys an awfully nice pair of speakers and white noise generator.
posted by paanta at 10:13 AM on December 11, 2009
Ergh, I wish I could edit that post. Strike the pretty and spell ambiance correctly. How mortifying.
posted by paanta at 10:15 AM on December 11, 2009
posted by paanta at 10:15 AM on December 11, 2009
I found some tweed-covered office partition panels on craigslist that are super sound-absorbers. They are about 3 feet by 5 feet, and 3 inches thick. They are some sort of stiff fiberglass, so really light weight. I'd jam them into place...
posted by markhu at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2009
posted by markhu at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2009
I really hope you're paying less rent than your roommate. Because if you're both paying the same, I think you should demand to switch off every few months so that you each get equal privacy and uninterrupted sleep.
posted by decathecting at 1:38 PM on December 11, 2009
posted by decathecting at 1:38 PM on December 11, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Madamina at 9:27 AM on December 11, 2009